Presidential elections are held by direct popular vote every six
years. Statistics Finland produces official statistics on
presidential elections, which consist of the first and second
elections for the President of the Republic. The main content
includes: the numbers and percentages of votes cast for
presidential candidates separated into votes received in advance
voting and on the actual election day, information on the numbers
of persons entitled to vote and those who voted by gender, numbers
of advance voters by gender.

1.2 Essential conceptsHolding of elections

According to the Finnish Constitution the President of the
Republic is elected by direct vote for a term of six years. The
President must be a native-born Finnish citizen. The same person
may be elected President for no more than two consecutive terms of
office.

The President is elected by direct vote, if necessary in two
rounds. The election day is the fourth Sunday of January in the
election year. If one of the candidates receives more than half of
the (approved) votes cast in this (first) election, he or she is
elected President. If none of the candidates has received a
majority of the votes cast, a new election will be held on the
second Sunday after the first election between the two candidates
who received most votes in the first election. The candidate
receiving most votes in the second round is elected President. If
only one candidate is nominated, he or she is appointed President
without an election. The President assumes office on the first day
of the month following the elections.

A president has been elected by direct elections in 2012 (Sauli
Niinistö), in 2006 (Tarja Halonen), in
2000 (Tarja Halonen) and in
1994 (Martti Ahtisaari).

With a special enactment in 1944 (Mannerheim) and in
1974 (Urho Kekkonen); and

Through a combination of direct and electoral elections in
1988 (Mauno Koivisto).

Legislation on elections

The present basic provisions relating to the election of the
President are included in the Finnish Constitution and by the
revision of election legislation in 1998, all provisions on
elections were collected into one single act, the Election Act
(714/1998), which entered into force on 8 October 1998. Elections
are held in accordance with the Election Act in force, more details
on the Ministry of Justice’s web pages www.vaalit.fi (=>
Legislation) and www.finlex.fi, Election Act (714/1998).

Election procedure and changes

Up to the 1982 election, the President was elected by an
indirect election procedure. The citizens voted for a college of
300 electors who assembled to elect the President of the Republic.
In 1981, the Constitution was amended by increasing the number of
electors in the college to 301. The Presidential election procedure
was reviewed twice, in 1987 and 1991, to make it more
democratic:

In 1987, the procedure was a mixed election system in which
those entitled to vote cast their votes both direct for a
presidential candidate and for an electoral college candidate.

In 1991, direct popular vote was introduced where voters cast
their vote direct for a presidential candidate without voting for
an intermediary elector, and the two rounds of the election
procedure mean that a new election is held between the two
candidates who received most votes in the first election if none of
the candidates receives over 50 per cent of votes in the
first election.

The main principles of holding elections

All elections in Finland are held according to the following
principles:

The elections are direct. Electors (those
entitled to vote) vote direct for the persons they want to be
elected.

The elections are secret. Secrecy of the ballot
means that neither the election authorities nor anyone else get to
know for whom voters have cast their votes or whether they have
returned an empty ballot.

The right to vote is universal and equal.
Universal franchise means that the right to vote only depends on
requirements which citizens usually fulfil. Equal franchise means
that every person entitled to vote has an equal right to influence
the election results. In general elections everybody has one
vote.

Voting is personal . The right to vote may not
be used through an agent.

Voting must take place in front of election
authorities.

Right to vote and voting register, voting and calculation of
the election resultRight to vote

Every Finnish citizen is entitled to vote in Presidential
elections provided the person has reached the age of 18
no later than on the day of the election of first election.

Voting register

The Population Register Centre compiles a register of everyone
entitled to vote (voting register) 46 days before the election day.
The voting register includes personal data on each person entitled
to vote (name, personal identity code, constituency, municipality
of domicile and polling station) included in the Population
Information System on the 51st day prior to the election day. The
voting register is established on 13 December 2017 based on the
information included in the Population Information System on 8
December 2017.

The voting register is publicly available at the local register
offices (maistraatti) from 41 days before the election day onwards
(i.e. from 18 December 2017). In addition, everyone in the register
is sent a notice of his or her right to vote (card of information)
not later than 24 days before the election day (4 January 2018).
The card states among other things the election day, the days for
advance voting, the address of the polling station of the recipient
and the addresses and telephone numbers of the election
authorities. The voting register is later used to print out
electoral rolls for the polling stations on the election day.
Claims for correction of the register have to be submitted to the
local register offices not later than 16 days before election day
and the local register office will decide the claims not later than
13 days before election day.

The voting register becomes legally valid at noon 12 days prior
to the election day, that is, on Tuesday 16 January 2018 at
noon.

Voting

Persons with a right to vote can vote either 1) during
advance voting, or 2) on the election Sunday.

Advance voting is conducted in the first and second elections
both in Finland and abroad. Each person entitled to vote can vote
in advance in general advance polling stations in Finland and
abroad at Finnish embassies.

On the election day an enfranchised person may vote only in the
polling station of his or her own voting district.

The voting day for the first election is Sunday 28 January
2018.

A voter need not give grounds for advance voting, but may freely
choose between voting in advance or voting on the election day.
Advance voting commences on the 11th day (17 January 2018) and ends
abroad on the 8th day (20 January 2018) and in Finland on the 5th
day (23 January 2018) before the election day.

The voting day for the possible second election is Sunday 11
February 2018. Advance voting takes place in Finland between 30
January and 6 February 2018 and abroad between 31 January and 3
February 2018.

Counting of the election results

The election results are counted as in parliamentary elections,
except that the d’Hondt method is not used. The votes of the
candidates are counted, and the candidates are ranked in order of
number of votes received. If the numbers are the same, the order is
drawn by lot.

After both elections the Electoral District Committee of
Helsinki confirms the final number of votes received by the
candidates in the entire country, and informs the Ministry of
Justice of them. If one of the candidates in the first election has
received more than one half of the votes cast, the Government
declares in the Ministry of Justice's presentation that he or she
has been elected President.

If none of the candidates has received over one half of the
votes cast, the Ministry of Justice declares that a second election
between the two candidates who have received most votes will be
held in two weeks. After the second election the Government
establishes which candidate has received most votes and thus been
elected President.

Eligibility and nomination of candidatesEligibility

A Presidential candidate must be a native-born citizen of
Finland.

Nominationofcandidates

A presidential candidate may be nominated

By registered parties from whose lists at least one
representative was elected in the parliamentary elections preceding
the presidential elections, and

By constituency associations established by at least
20,000 people entitled to vote.

A political party or an association of eligible voters may
nominate only one candidate. Each party chooses its candidate
according to its own rules and regulations. Political parties and
constituency associations may nominate the same candidate.

The candidates enter as candidates in the entire country. A
party and constituency association must submit its candidate
application to the Electoral District Committee of Helsinki not
later than 47 days before the election day on Tuesday 12 December
2017 by 4 pm.

The Committee checks the applications and confirms the
nomination of candidates 38 days before the election day on Friday
15 December 2017 by compiling a list of candidates in which the
candidates are enumerated in an order drawn by lot. The list
contains the following information on the candidates: number
(beginning with number 2), name, municipality of residence and
title, profession or position. The list is displayed in the polling
booths, for instance.

If the second election is held, the Electoral District Committee
of Helsinki compiles a new list of candidates including both
candidates in the second election with the same numbers they had in
the first election.

Voting percentage = proportion of voters of persons entitled to
vote

Statistics on general elections include four different voting
percentages:

The voting percentage of Finnish citizens resident in
Finland.

The voting percentage of Finnish citizens resident abroad.

The total voting percentage which includes both of the
above.

A separate percentage for persons belonging to group 2
above and living in Sweden.

Valid and invalid ballots taken into account in the advance
voting

As a rule, counting of advance votes starts at 3 pm on the
actual election Sunday. The count may be brought forward in large
electoral districts; the earliest possible starting time being
12 noon. The objective is to finish the counting of advance
votes by 8 pm, from which time onwards preliminary data may be
released.

Constituencies

The whole country is one single constituency in Presidential
elections. Therefore, when counting the election results, seats are
not allocated to different regions. All statistics do, however,
present results also by constituency in order to maintain the
comparability of different elections.

Changes in constituencies and municipalities and consolidations
of municipalities

Changes in constituencies and municipalities and consolidations
of municipalities concerning elections of different years are
presented on the Internet in the Classifications section (on the
homepage of Presidential elections).

Municipalities are placed into constituencies according to the
constituency division in force.

Classifications used

Statistics Finland's classification of municipalities,
constituency, municipality, voting district, party (entered in the
Party Register), age of candidates and elected, country of
residence.

Candidates have been nominated in the Presidential elections
2018 by the following registered parties and constituency
associations:

The Finnish Social Democratic Party (SDP) - Tuula Haatainen

Centre Party of Finland (KESK) - Matti Vanhanen

Swedish People's Party in Finland (RKP) - Nils Torvalds

Green League (VIHR) - Pekka Haavisto

Left Alliance (VAS) - Merja Kyllönen

Finns Party (PS) - Laura Huhtasaari

Constituency association B - Sauli Niinistö

Constituency association A - Paavo Väyrynen

Data collection methods and data sources

Statistics Finland receives basic election data from the
Ministry of Justice’s election data system, the technical
implementation of which is assigned to Tieto Oyj.

1.3 Acts, decrees and recommendations

The function of Statistics Finland is to compile statistics
describing conditions in society (Statistics Finland Act of
24 January 1992/48). These also include election
statistics. Statistics Finland’s Rules of Procedure define
the Population and Social Statistics department as the producer of
election statistics (Statistics Finland’s Rules of Procedure,
TK-00-1743-16).

The statistics are based on census data. The basic data of the
statistics are based on the Ministry of Justice's election
information system consisting of six subsystems. They include:

Basic data on constituencies, municipalities and voting
districts as well as election authorities, among others;

Data on polling stations (polling station register), which
include data on general advance polling stations and polling
stations on the election day;

Franchise data (voting register), for which data on every person
entitled to vote are collected by the Population Register Centre
46 days before the election day. The voting register includes
personal data on each person entitled to vote (name, personal
identity code, constituency, municipality of domicile and polling
station) included in the Population Information System on the
51st day prior to the election day. The voting register
becomes legally valid at noon 12 days prior to the election
day;

Data on candidates (candidate register) in which the following
data on each candidate in the elections are entered: name,
candidate number, profession, municipality of residence,
party/constituency association that has nominated the candidate,
and personal identity code;

A centralised calculation system to which the electoral district
committees and the central election committees submit their results
of the elections;

The statistics and information service system by means of which
the results of the elections and other statistical data are
transmitted to the media and to Statistics Finland.

The statistics are released on the Internet, in the StatFin
online service and on the statistics pages on presidential
elections. Election result data by municipality and voting district
and the numbers of votes gained by the candidates are entered into
the StatFin online service.

Releases and time series tables in addition to the tables
concerning the elections in question are available in three
languages (Finnish, Swedish and English) on the statistics pages on
Presidential elections.

The new statistical grouping of municipalities (urban,
semi-urban and rural) was introduced starting from the
year 2000. Prior to that, municipalities were grouped as
follows: towns and other municipalities. Changes in constituencies
and municipalities between elections have been taken into account
in statistics which contain comparative data with the previous
elections.

Election results are presented on the statistics pages on
Presidential elections since 1925.

The Ministry of Justice publishes exhaustive information about
different elections and the national candidate register and
election result data on its web pages (www.vaalit.fi). The
statistics on advance voters published by the Ministry of Justice
differ from Statistics Finland’s statistics on advance
voters, because they are defined on different grounds:

The Ministry of Justice counts the number of advance voters from
the number of those entitled to vote, whereas

Statistics Finland counts the number of advance voters from the
number of all persons who voted.

The classifications used in the statistics can be found on
Statistics Finland’s website.